Israeli President Herzog stresses Jewish unity during Antisemitism Awareness Week

Israeli President Isaac Herzog emphasized Jewish unity on Wednesday while hosting international Jewish leaders at the Antisemitism Awareness Week event in Israel. He spoke about Jewish unity in the context of ongoing efforts to bring the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza back to Israel.

“Jewish unity is not just an idea – it is a living, breathing force. We feel it most deeply when we stand together and demand the immediate release of our hostages,” Herzog stated. 

The president told Ayelet Samerano, the mother of the hostage Yonatan Samerano, that Israel will do everything in its power to bring home her son and the remaining hostages. 

“Ayelet, your courage is our courage. Your pain is our pain. And your fight is our fight,” Herzog argued. “We will not stop. We will not rest. We will not be silent until Yonatan and every single one of our hostages are home,” he pledged. There are currently 59 remaining hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials have estimated that some 24 of them may still be alive. 

Herzog also emphasized the need to fight against the modern antisemitism that focuses on negating the Jewish state’s right to exist and defend itself. 

“The fact is that there is no circumstance and no equation in which negating the right of the Jewish people to live safely in their one and only nation-state is not antisemitism. To invalidate the existence of the singular Jewish national home is to declare the world has no place for Jews,” he told the audience. 

He also expressed empathy for the pain felt by Jews in Diaspora communities amid rising levels of antisemitism.

“As president of the democratic nation-state of the Jewish People, a state in which all are equal – I say to you, Jewish leaders and activists, 'Fight back! Don’t give up!' To my Jewish brothers and sisters, I say, 'I understand your concern for the safety of your communities, and for the future of your children. I understand your pain and outrage. I understand your concern for Jewish life, period. I also understand- and I share your worries in this urgent battle. The State of Israel is your full partner, and we are all in this battle,'” Herzog said. 

Despite a wide consensus to fight antisemitism, there is disagreement concerning which partners should be included in this global fight against what has been described as the world’s oldest hatred. 

Last week, Herzog’s office announced that the president would not host European politicians at an Israeli conference against antisemitism due to the presence of populist right-wing European politicians who represent parties that some pundits believe are associated with past or present forms of bigotry. 

Addressing antisemitism on U.S. campuses, Herzog thanked the Trump administration for taking strong action against the rise in Jew-hatred at Columbia University. He also noted that the current wave of antisemitism has, in some cases, strengthened the Jewish identity of individuals who were previously unaffiliated.

“We have seen the Jews of October 8th – those whose Jewish identity was not the predominant factor in their lives – declare with strength: ‘We are Jewish!’”

Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, who hosted the conference against antisemitism, stated, “The establishment of the State of Israel did not end the ‘Jewish question.’ Religious and racial attacks have been replaced by an attack on our collective identity – Zionism.”

“The essence of antisemitism today is an attack on the Jewish people’s right to self-determination. Today, the State of Israel, which went to war in self-defense following the mass massacres committed by Hamas on October 7, is accused of perpetrating genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. There is no crime against humanity that the State of Israel has not been and is not being accused of. This is the new face of the ancient blood libels,” Chikli emphasized.